The concentration of wealth among older households stifles entrepreneurship among the young and minorities.

National Journal caption: “The Face of American Entrepreneurship”

BY MATT VASILOGAMBROS
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May 28, 2015 Ah, the small business owner. Oft-celebrated in the economy for his resilience and success—a representation of the American workforce. That is, if you’re talking about entrepreneurs that are white, married, have a college degree, and are over the age of 50.

This is the only group of entrepreneurs (individuals who identify as “self-employed”) that have enjoyed any sort of sustainable growth in the last two decades. According to a Center for American Progress study, entrepreneurship has been concentrated since 1998 among households with residents over 50. Even in that group, it’s only the small subset of college-educated, married Caucasians that are flourishing in the ranks of the self-employed. Among older entrepreneurs, 80 percent are married and 90 percent are white. This specific demographic makeup changed very little in that time frame.

So while the share of all older households in the world of entrepreneurship grew, the representation of other groups—including minorities—did not. Entrepreneurship among younger households, the study further finds, has fallen between 1989 and 2013.

I thought immigration was supposed to be making America vibrantly entrepreneurial? But now we hear that isn’t true. Clearly, it’s the fault of Old White Men for not keeling over fast enough.